Combined door closer, starter, and lock



Apr. 3, 1923. 1,450,234

' A. E. SMALL COMBINED DOOR CLOSER, STARTER, AND LOCK Filed May16, 19212 sheets-shegt l fweniof Small 4florne z Apr. 3, 1923.

A. E. SMALL COMBINED DOOR CLOSER, STARTER, AND LOCK Filed May 16, 1921 2sheets-sheet 2 Patented Apr. 3, 1923.

UNITED s "TE OFFICE.-

ARTHUR E. SMALL, oroHIcAGo, ILLINoIs, ASSIGNOR ,To WALTER r. MURPHY, or

CHICAGO,

' ILLINOIS.

COMBTNED DOOR CLOSER, STARTER, 'AND LOCK.

Application filed May 16,

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, ARTHUR E. SMALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago,in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Combined Door Closers, Starters,and Locks, of which the following is a specification Thisapplicationrelates toimprovements in side doors for freight cars, and moreparticularly, to a combined door closer, starter and lock.

It is the object of this invention to provide a device of this characterwhich may .7 be readily attached to freight car side doors now in usewhich will positively close the door completely, start the opening ofthe closed door, and when the door is in closed position, provide ameans for'readily locking and sealing the door.

There is considerable difiiculty experienced with side doors of freightcars in service inmaking a complete closure of the door by hand and thesame difficulty is experienced when the car reaches its destination tostart the opening of the closed door. The proposed device is applied tothe door in such a manner that as the door approaches the closedposition the device may be operated by the train man to complete theclosure without the necessity of the exertion of extraordinary effort orthe application of any additional means. As this device employs theprinciple of the lever the initial impetus of opening and closing thedoor may be imparted by the train man without the exertion ofextraordinary force. Another advantage of this device is that when thedoor is open it lays back out of the Way and when the door is closed itwillalso act as a door lock.

While the preferred form of this invention is illustrated upon theaccompanying sheets of drawing, yet it is to be understood that minordetail changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof.

In'the drawings, Fig. lrepresents aportion of the side of va freight carillustrating 1921. Serial No. 470,080.

a side door thereon in closed position, with parts broken away, to whichthis improved device has been applied and in dotted. lines inend'elevation of a bracket employed for engagement with the door closer andstarter lever when the side door is not supported upon rollers at itsbottom.

The side door 1, as illustrated, is of a usual construction having a'Z-bar 2-along its bottom which travels over rollers 3 mounted inbrackets 4L secured to the side 5 of the car and provided withinterlocking sections -6 and 7 along its top edge and car side wallsrespectively and having a customary form of weather and spark-strip 8which embraces the vertical edge of the door when the door is closed.

The combined door closer, starter and look as contemplated bythis'invention -comprises a base plate 9 secured to the bottom edge ofthe'door preferablyrabove one of the intermediate bottom supportingroller brackets when the door .is in closed position, which base plateis preferably provided with longitudinal flanges adapted to embrace andengage the outside flange of the'Z-bar 2' alongthebottomof :the door. Anoperating lever having a boss 10 is mounted on a pivotextending'horizontally and centrally from the base plate, said leverhaving an upwardly .extending operating handlell from the boss 10 whichis sufficiently spaced apart from the side of the door to be readilygrasped by the handof train manand a downwardly extending portion 12 inline with the operating handle but preferably in a plane adjacenttheside of the door which is adapted toen'gage a stop and enter intoapocket extending outwardly from the side wall of the car.

This stop is preferably formed integral with the bracket 4 of the doorrollerdirectly under the device when the door is in closed position,and, as illustrated, Figs. 1 and 2, consists in the provision in thebracket casting of a pocket 13 and a stop 14 on the exterior of thebracket, the stop let preferably being formed by an upward extension ofthe pocket wall on the side adjacent the vertical edge of the door inclosed position and the pocket being of such dimensions and so arrangedas to receive and engage the end portion 12 of the operating lever, asshown in Figs. 1 and 2.

To form a door lock and seal the upper extremity of the operating handle11 is provided with spaced apart parallel perforated lugs 15 extendingin the direction of the closed edge of the door adapted when the door isin closed position and the operating lever swung to a vertical toembrace between them a perforated lug 16 carried on a base plate 17secured to the side of the door which base plate is also provided withan upper perforated lug 18 for mounting a locking pin 19 which, when thedoor is closed and the operating lever in the vertical, will passthrough the four perforated lugs 18, 15 and 16 extending therebeyondwith an aperture provided in the lower extremity for the passage of acar sealing strip.

This device is illustrated, in full lines in Fig. 1 in the closed andlocked position of the door. The operating lever is in the vertical withthe upper extremity locked and sealed, the lower extremity extendinginto and engaged by the pocket 13. To open the door the seal is broken,the sealing strip removed, the lock pin lifted, the operating handle 11grasped by the train man and pulled down to the position shown in dottedlines in Fig. 1. This movement will cause the lower end of the operatinglever to engage and fulcrum against the side wall of the pocket 13 andextension 14 thereof mounted On the -side wall of the car and throughits pivot upon the car door impart an initial impetus to the openingmovement of the door which when once started may be concluded by hand inthe usual manner. It is preferable to secure the base plate 9 by boltspassing through outwardly extending bosses 20 arranged on each side ofthe pivotal boss 10 and so formed that they will be engaged by and limitthe amount of swing of the lower portion of the operating lever, asshown in dotted lines on Fig. 1, the weight of the operating handlebeing sufiicient to maintain the lever in this position while the dooris open. To complete the closure of the door after it has been closed byhand until the edge is adjacent the spark and weather strip 8 which willbring the lower free end of the operating lever over the pocket 13 theoperating handle is grasped by the train man and forced upwardly to thevertical, the lower portion engaging as a fulcrum the rear wall of thepocket 13 and ,will complete the closure of the door.

While this invention is illustrated as applied to a bottom supporteddoor it may be readily applied toa top hung door by the application ofthe bracket shown in Figs. 3, 4L and 5 to the side of the car under theposition occupied by this device when the door is in closed position.This bracket comprises a base plate 21 adapted to be bolted or otherwisesecured to the side wall of the car having a horizontal extension 22provided with an opening 23 extending therethrough and surrounded by thede pending walls 24 to form a pocket corresponding to the pocket 13 onthe roller bracket with one wall extended upward to form the stop 25corresponding to the stop 14 on the roller bracket illustrated inFig. 1. The operation of the device in connection with this bracket isthe same as above described. The curved upstanding lug 26, shown indotted lines in Fig. 3, a and 5, may be employed in connection with atop hung door having the same form of Z-bar along its bottom edge, asshown in Fig. 1, and the lug 26 will act as a guide for the lower flangeof the Z-bar to maintain the.

bottom of the door against the door sill.

lVhat I claim is:

1. A freight car side door closer and starter comprising a lever havinga. perforated boss pivotally mounted therethrough to the door adjacentitsbottom edge, said lever comprising an operating handle extendingupwardly from said boss and spaced apart from the door surface and aportion depending handle and adjacent the door surface, and a stationaryengaging member secured to the car side comprising a bracket having anextension providedwith an aperture adapted to receive the free end ofthe depending portion of the lever with the side walls of the apertureacting as a fulcrum for the lever when the lever is moved about itspivot.

2. A freight car side door closer, starter and lock comprising a leverhaving a perforated boss pivotally mounted therethrough to the dooradjacent its bottom edge, said lever comprising an operating handleextending upwardly from the boss and spaced apart from the door surfaceand a portion depending from the boss in line with the handle andadjacent the door surface, a stationary engaging member secured to thecar side comprising a bracket having an extension provided with anaperture adapted to receive the free end of the depending portion of thelever with the side walls of the aperture acting as a fulcrum for thelever when the lever is moved about its from the boss in line with theypivot, a lock pin slidably mounted in peris in closed position, saidlock pin adaptforated lugs extending outwardly from a ed to pass throughthe perforations insaid base plate secured .to the car door and lugs andextend therebelow with the lower 10 spaced apart perforated lugsextending extremity of said lock pin having a slot 5 from the extremityof the handle portion therethrough adapted 'to receive a sealing of thelever adapted to receive between them strip. one of the lugs of the lockpin when the door ARTHUR E. SMALL.

